Correction: The letter from Tiffany Fisk of Homer Senior Citizens Inc. has been changed to correct the spelling of her name.

Thanksgiving program needs help

Good Afternoon to the good citizens of Homer. The Thanksgiving basket program is in jeopardy of not being funded this year. Fundraising has been almost nonexistent, and we have no access to any grants this year.

Please consider giving a donation to this very worthy and long-standing cause. We would like to be able to give baskets to the community members in need, but without the funds, we will be very limited. Any amount that you can spare would be greatly appreciated. Please send your checks to: Kachemak Bay Lions, P.O. Box 1824, Homer, AK 99603.

Blessings and many thanks,

Fran Van Sandt, Finance Chairman, Kachemak Bay Lions Club’s Thanksgiving Basket Program

Cottonwood Fund support appreciated

Dear Editor:

Our organization has experienced incredible challenges over this past year, but what has not changed for us is our steadfast commitment to our beloved Homer seniors. The quality of our essential services, taking care of our residents’ daily needs, as well as planning for the future, is our focus. We are currently undergoing several projects upgrading our senior facility so we may reopen safely.

In August 2021, we reached out to our community for financial support in order to upgrade our fire alarm system. We are asking the community to donate $36,000 towards protecting our seniors with this mandatory safety upgrade. We received news The Homer Foundation through The Cottonwood Fund has awarded us $1,000 for our fire system. This brings total funds raised up to $14,610 at present.

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to The Homer Foundation and The Cottonwood Fund for their commitment to the safety of our Homer senior community. We hope your example will encourage others to join our efforts in reaching our funding goals for this project.

Tiffany Fisk, Assistant, Homer Senior Citizens Inc.

Thank you, Story Real Estate

Chris Story, his clients and his Sunshine Team have done it again and delivered candy to be distributed to the kiddos who tromp our Bayview and Mountain View streets in quest of sweet things on Halloween. What a beautiful and kind gesture to the neighborhood.

Please let them know how much we appreciate this community-building gesture — it is truly moving and a grand example of how simple gestures can lift us up and create good will. We are so smiling today.

Yours,

Carol R. Dee

Compassion first

Citizens,

It’s come to the point for me where I have to question your very humanity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Americans get booster shots to prevent COVID-19. The world health organization does not.

How can one justify us (where good health care is available) hoarding vaccines to provide third or more doses to arguably the most privileged class of people in the world when a huge amount of the poor in other countries have none? These are the places where overcrowding and lack of medical resources allow conditions to create variants that will ultimately come here.

If this is a world wide pandemic, then where is the compassion for our brothers and sisters around the world suffering from it? Where is your intelligence in not realizing their suffering will eventually be visited here? If your self interest is your primary concern, then I hope you can live with that.

I am over 60 and absolutely disagree with the rather fascist opinion that I have no right to refuse the vaccine until the less fortunate than me around the world have the same right to receive it.

Losing my respect for this country and its supposed leaders daily,

Craig Phillips

Add to, don’t give away State Parks land

Last week at the Alaska State Parks Cottonwood-Eastland stakeholders meeting, Rep. Vance tried to convince us that the only way to add donated parcels to the park was to trade away the 126 acres of prime, and very popular, park land where the Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery sits to an insolvent nonprofit.

Vance’s House Bill 52 does exactly that.

What became apparent was that the addition of the parcels to Cottonwood-Eastland, which is a great idea, has no connection to Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery. These are two separate issues.

I support the inclusion of the Waddell and Hopkins parcels as well as the Friends of Kachemak Bay State Park’s ILMA (Inter-agency Land Management Assignment) into the State Parks Cottonwood-Eastland unit. I do not support giving away prime Park land.

Mako Haggerty

Sign a thank you card for health care workers

The debt of gratitude that we owe to those in our community who have kept everything up and running during these past two years is immeasurable. Ptarmigan Arts has started a campaign to give thank you cards to medical professionals and support staff in our community to let them know how much they are appreciated. Free cards, donated by our members as well as others in the community, have been placed at Ptarmigan Arts, The Homer Bookstore, Homer Public Library, Fritz Creek General Store, Homer United Methodist Church and Homer Chamber of Commerce. Please stop by any of these locations and sign a card. No need for postage — we will collect and distribute the cards just before Thanksgiving. There is no way to adequately thank everyone who deserves it, but we’d like to make a small dent.

Allison Galbraith, for the Members of Ptarmigan Arts Gallery

Thank you, Beachy Construction

The Paul Banks PTA would like to thank Beachy Construction for their generous donation of wood for the Paul Banks Elementary outdoor classroom. The second graders have been working hard on building an outdoor educational space for the entire school to enjoy and the wood will be used to enhance that space. Thank you to Beachy Construction for supporting your community!

Ahnie Litecky, Paul Banks PTA

Letter of Appreciation

I would like to thank South Peninsula Hospital for their dedication to our community during this COVID-19 pandemic. From the vaccination clinics offered, rapid testing and personal notification of positive results, to the scheduling of our monoclonal antibody therapeutic treatments, the great nurse that administered our treatments and the follow up that occurred as we recovered, a big thank you to each and every one of you.

We have fully recovered and will continue to wear our masks where recommended.

Sherry and Don Stead

COVID 1984

This scamdemic has beguiled so many of us, worldwide. We are being leveraged to give up for the greater good. This is one pincer of the Reset elite. But people are growing weary, suspicious.

Time for the other Reset pincer: ruination by our own emissions. This is a fine rational for zoning earth international regions, with designated smart cities, and full circle control by … algorithm?

Regards,

Tod Tenhoff

Clean up downtown after Halloween

We live in the neighborhood of Homer where hundreds of children and teens enjoy Halloween Trick or Treating. We appreciate seeing the great costumes, and participating in this event. We are grateful for the community contributions of candy that Story Real Estate provides which supplements what we purchase. The reality of Halloween in this neighborhood is that we must provide “treats” for hundreds of children and must be available to distribute the candy for several hours.

When we are out of candy, we turn off our lights, but still must expect the door bell to ring many times. Days after the event, we pick up pieces of candy wrappers and other trash from our streets and yards because we don’t want the plastic/aluminum to get into the city’s ditches and head to the ocean.

Halloween in this neighborhood may be a great experience for many young people, but it can be challenging for the people who live here. Some helpful options for many residents might include that perhaps some children and their families could return after Halloween to help clean up the litter in the neighborhood, and perhaps the hordes could be done with trick and treating within three hours rather than five hours.

Thank you.

Vivian Finlay